UFC targeting Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa for March show in Las Vegas

Shots have been fired, the rivalry is heated and there is no love lost between Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa.

Israel Adesanya captured UFC gold this weekend, knocking out Robert Whittaker to unify the UFC middleweight titles. It was an impressive showing and one of Adesanya’s more one-sided wins. Long-time rival Paulo Costa was decidedly not impressed, even going to far as to say he could “kill” Adesanya with the power the Brazilian possesses. After a long, intense rivalry, the two now finally seem to be on a collision coarse.

According to reports from BJPENN.com, the UFC are targeting Adesanya vs Costa for a yet to be specified event in Las Vegas, March 2020. The UFC have not commented on the booking officially, and as of now there is no event publicly scheduled fitting that slot.

As of now, both Adesanya and Costa are undefeated in MMA. Both are strikers of a very different variety. Adesanya is more unpredictable and unorthodox with his striking, evoking memories of a prime Anderson Silva. Costa, however, could be seen as a spiritual successor to Vitor Belfort, swarming his opponents with intense, powerful striking.

Adesanya has gotten past above mentioned Silva, as well as Kelvin Gastelum on his way to the top. Meanwhile Costa has knocked out former UFC champ Johny Hendricks, and also defeated Yoel Romero in his most recent outing.